Antifa group claims Stuttgart incident against AfD lawmakers

A far-left group has claimed responsibility for an incident outside the state parliament of the Baden-Württemberg in which two members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) were injured.

The Stuttgart Antifascist Action Alliance referred to the incident as a "creative disruptive action" and claimed there had been "a scuffle on the part of the security service and AfD MPs."

The group did not address police allegations that its members attacked AfD lawmakers.

Wednesday's incident follows a number of attacks against German politicians from several parties in recent months.

What happened outside the Baden-Württemberg parliament?

Police said several antifa activists had held up a banner directly in front of an AfD campaign stand in order to block it.

They said two AfD lawmakers as well as other members of the party were physically and verbally assaulted by the protesters.

The two lawmakers were slightly injured but did not require medical assistance.

One of the MPs, Hans-Jürgen Goßner, later claimed on Facebook that a woman punched him in the neck and tried to knock his cell phone out of his hand.

Police detained two women on Wednesday in relation to the incident and their involvement is being investigated.

However, in its statement released on Thursday, the antifa group claimed that online reports of the incident had planted "a completely false picture."

The group said it is just to challenge the far-right AfD for public space, including through loud protests and blocking its campaign stands.

The far-left activists claimed they had been harassed by both security and AfD members during the incident.

zc/lo (dpa, AFP)

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